Tuesday 10 May 2011

Easter in Juba - Part 1

The recent posts by Mark Mallalieu from Juba were becoming a bit too much to bare and I had to go down and check out the area myself. We both had a long-weekend break over Easter providing a perfect opportunity for us. I arrived in Juba from Khartoum late on the 22nd April and we had a little time for some birding just outside town. On the drive we saw several Piapiacs and a Hobby. Surprisingly, and despite lots of rains, a local wetland area near town was almost completely dry and limited our birding as dusk approached. We spent time looking at cisticolas, seeing Rattling, Red-pate and Croaking.  This is a famously difficult group of warblers to identify; I have very little experience with them, but Mark has been working on them and our trip gave him the chance to sort out the identification of many.

Croaking Cisticola, near Juba 22 April 2011

By coincidence, Mark Boyd was also visiting Juba that weekend with some friends and he was able to join us the next day. This was the first time the three of us had been out birding together since a great day of migration at Tuti back in September. Mark Mallalieu's driver Bosco took us out along the Tenekeka Road to about 20km north of Juba. We stopped at various locations on the way, birding mostly in Acacia scrub and occasionally in areas of patchy woodland. The rains had produced some flooded areas along the road and we saw several species of waterbird, including many flocks of Spur-winged Goose and Knob-billed Duck which Mark says had not been around in the dry season.

Knob-billed Duck, Terekeka Road north of Juba 23 April 2011

Spur-winged Goose, Terekeka Road north of Juba 23 April 2011

African Open-billed Stork, Terekeka Road north of Juba 23 April 2011

Wooly-necked Stork, Terekeka Road north of Juba 23 April 2011

Black-headed Heron, Terekeka Road north of Juba 23 April 2011

The Acacia scrub beside the road all looked quite similar but every time we stopped we found different species. At one point we came across a number of birds making loud noises in the undergrowth. From their actions they were almost certainly mobbing a snake, though we never actually got to see it. This one group included lots of White-billed Buffalo-Weavers, several Black-headed Gonoleks, some Brown Babblers, a couple of White-browed Robin-Chats, a Green-backed Camaroptera, and several weavers including a Heuglin's Masked Weaver.

Black-headed Gonolek, Terekeka Road north of Juba 23 April 2011

Green-backed Camaroptera, Terekeka Road north of Juba 23 April 2011

White-browed Robin-Chat, Terekeka Road north of Juba 23 April 2011

White-billed Buffalo-Weaver, Terekeka Road north of Juba 23 April 2011

Heuglin's Masked Weaver, Terekeka Road north of Juba 23 April 2011

We encountered a few patches of forest, but it was clear that the little still present this close to Juba was rapidly being cut for charcoal and we came across several pits where they bury the sticks before slow burning them to make the charcoal.

Charcoal pit, Terekeka Road north of Juba 23 April 2011

At lunch we pulled up in a shady location for a break, expecting things to calm down. However, birds kept calling and moving in the bushes around us, while White-headed, White-backed and Ruppell's Griffon Vultures soared overhead. Most impressive, though, was the large movement of birds that we saw drifting overhead, probably numbering in their thousands. Many were too high to identify but there were large numbers of Abdim's Storks and Marabou Storks, plus lots of raptors. There were some Steppe Buzzards and Aquila eagles, with several at least being Steppe and Tawny Eagles and probably about 20 Bataleur Eagles. One long-winged falcon was just too far to identify though could well have been Eleonora's or Sooty - neither of which has been seen in Southern Sudan (which will soon be the world's newest nation). Another surprise was to see several Alpine Swifts amongst them. The birds continued to pass overhead for about an hour. They appeared to be migrating, but were heading East rather than North. We wondered whether they were moving towards the Nile (which lay to the East) to use it as a migration route, or whether they were using the thermals over large jebels (rocky outcrops) to gain height and then soaring in stepping stones from one to the next. A large jebel lay in the direction from where the birds had come, so this could have been the reason.

Bataleur Eagle, Terekeka Road north of Juba 23 April 2011

Ruppell's Griffon Vulture, Terekeka Road north of Juba 23 April 2011

African White-backed Vulture, Terekeka Road north of Juba 23 April 2011

After lunch we continued on and there were still many good birds to see. Along the road we saw interesting species at every stop including Grasshopper Buzzards, Swallow-tailed Bee-eaters, and a number of other good species, including a pair of Rufous-chested Swallows building a nest in a culvert under the road.

Swallow-tailed Bee-eater, Terekeka Road north of Juba 23 April 2011

Grasshopper Buzzard, Terekeka Road north of Juba 23 April 2011

Rufous-chested Swallow, Terekeka Road north of Juba 23 April 2011

White-headed Buffalo-Weaver, Terekeka Road north of Juba 23 April 2011

We ended this amazing day having seen around 120 species, many of which were new for us. We had pretty much stuck to one habitat, making us wonder at the diversity of species in this area. Needless to say we were itching to know what there would be on offer over the next two days.

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